Theregulars

It would be even mildly bearable if we did a 'moneyball' and actually searched for and signed lots of undervalued players based on overrated/ill-conceived notions. But it's just a gluttonous millionaire, with not an ounce of respect/feeling for the club/region, who wants as much as he can for as little as he can plausibly put in. I don't get how people can bat on about 'not getting ripped off', 'balancing the books' and being financially sound! It's for fuck all to do with a well thought-out economic model; it's a man who makes money by spending little, hoping to squeeze everything out of what he has, and then selling as soon as the most profit available at that point in time is available. We're just a business for the profit of Mike Ashley and whoever else invested/knows him and got a job. To think otherwise is ignorance on a level befitting Kinnear the Oxford Collins.

In the meantime, we#ll play th eopening 3/4 fixtures of the season with Shola Ameobi netting 0 goals and 2 injuries, giving a 6-12 point headstart to other teams. If anyone's surprised they only have themselves to blame.

Because they're skint

There is a problem: Joe Kinnear. Think of transfer activity as a clean pair of y-fronts and think of him as the skidmark which prevents you feeling free to take your trousers off.

That would require a level of intelligence he doesn't have.

Grand. We're still shit and haven't signed anybody, have social plankton running the club, a sub-par manager and a strikeforce consisting of this guy (I don't count Shola as a player) and a parasitic owner who has as much respect for this club as I do simultaneously for religion and Wonga's business principles. Fuck off.

Is that genuinely part of the Muslim handbook? "handbook"

I watch quite a bit of Lyon because my French mate supports them. As suggested above, he's hit and miss. When he's on, he's really on and can be a beast; when he's off he can be a total donkey. He has the attributes to succeed (FWIW I have never seen him play in anything other than a 4-4-2 as a target man), but he can have streaks in a game where he can't shoot or control for shit. If we get him for £5M or under I would call it a tidy signing, but nothing to write home about. Definitely a huge improvement over Shola though. If the striker pool was Cisse, Gomis, A.N. Other, Gouffran and Campbell being blooded in sometimes then we would be in good shape.

It's not that he's despicable or hypocritical or anything, it's just that he's kind of lame.

There is nothing prestigious about Oxford St, it's an absolute dump. Bollocks, it's a landmark.

Kinnear will be manager by the new season.

Isn't there a Bayern Munich forum you need to go and be a dick on? Aren't there some unnecessary calories you need to go and consume?

Papa See-Saw

Gravepoo

GOALTIERREZ

AMAMOBI

He actually called him Yohan Kebabs, you weren't lying. Good ol See-see up front and Hatem Ben Afree

"This has been going on for about 3 weeks" "They first contacted me about 10 days ago" Come on heart attack, three's a charm

You know it won't be though

I don't think the following is knee-jerk at all: there is a real risk that we will be in the bottom 3 at Christmas; and I can't see us facing anything apart from a relegation battle again with him in charge. So much of the modern game is down to tactical nouse, getting the most out of your players and man-management; he's one of the worst in the division at all 3. He has, on more than one occasion, played Cisse on the wing to accommodate Shola Ameobi. Just repeat that to yourselves a few times, man. As Wullie correctly alludes to, he constantly belittles the club and is seemingly hellbent on dulling our ambition. How dare he tell us we are lucky to get a point away at piddly little towns like West Bromwich; that we can't get near competing with the top 5. It's your job to try and bridge the gap, not consolidate it with your crippling lack of ambition and blatant self-preservation. He's a puppet manager who is way out of his depth at Premier League level, let alone at a club which should be challenging for Europe on a regular basis, based on playing staff alone. He stifles creativity and attacking impetus in favour of abstract, British-based concepts like "grit" and a defensive solidarity which is pointless to try and base your entire game on, given the skill, flair and pace of many attacking players in the division. Worst of all he publicly says that our players are not good enough and that we are unrealistic. He's a bellend. Anyone jibing on about stability is bullshitting themselves; it's because he's cheap, he knows he won't get a better job so he'll take what he is given transfer wise and not moan about it and he can be controlled by Ashley and Llambias at will. Just another in the long line of owners of the club who have never had its best interests at heart.

I'd be less worried if our ownership knew the first thing about football.

You don't need a "tackler". Do Bayern have a "tackler"? No, they have three competent, very athletic ball carriers who can all pass with metronomic accuracy. They then teach them how to tackle sufficiently to win the ball back. If we had a decent coach, or any coach, they could just teach Vurnon how to tackle sufficiently to win the ball back and play it. The British obsession with having a holding midfielder/destroyer is another thing holding our game back. Midfielders are the links and the engine in a football team, they all need to be comply comfortable in possession, accurate in passing and adept at finding space first and foremost. Then you teach them how to tackle. Of course, this being Pardew's team, the priorities are ability to tackle, hoof towards a vague space in front (preferably where opposition team member is standing) and then stand on defence's toes as time goes on.

I think he's crap, personally.

I feel bad now... you haven't wound me up, I just misread Venkman's post because I'm hammered

Excellent; all is clear. I think I misread Venkman's laugh. Anyway, Istanbul hates Alan Pardew